hello

cough

The view from here.

Splutter.

Tiny and I are sneezing and coughing our way through the days at the moment. I wish I could take a leaf out of his book. He just loves life so much that in between all the snorting and snuffling he just gets on with the joy of things. "Yes, my ear hurts." I can hear him think, "but there's the pantry! With things in it! To touch! To take out! To put in strange places all over the house!"

For some reason I decided to make light of sneezing and coughing from when he was the tiniest baby. I think I wanted him to know that even though those noises were loud, they weren't scary. On the whole, it wasn't a bad plan. It makes for a bit of fun if one of us has a cold as he giggles every time there is a sneeze or a splutter from any quarter of the house. Even the dog's sneeze is a cause of great merriment around here. However, tonight at dinner I was seized by one of those terrible, unrelenting tickles in my throat which led to a dreadful bout of spluttering and general carry on. As I slumped over my dinner plate, trying to catch my breath (you can see he doesn't get his stoicism from me), I heard a delighted chortle from the other side of the table. I'm glad I can be a source of entertainment for the boy.

Perhaps I can introduce the lessons of Good Timing and Empathy in the coming years.